It's hard to quantify linemen, so I'm gonna leave them out of it. But I want to talk about the greatest individual seasons players have had at each position. I think it should combine both statistical greatness and team success as well, if possible, but the team success probably comes as more of a tiebreaker if the regular season stuff is pretty even. So here are my candidates for offensive positions:
QB
- 2013 Peyton Manning: 68.3%, 5,477 yds, 9.3 ay/a, 55 td, 10 int, 115.1 rating - also went 13-3 and went on to play in the Super Bowl
- 1984 Dan Marino: 64.2%, 5,084 yds, 9.4 ay/a, 48 td, 17 int, 108.9 rating - at a time when such passing stats were UNHEARD of
- 2007 Tom Brady: 68.9%, 4,806 yds, 9.4 ay/a, 50 td, 8 int, 117.2 rating - also went 16-0 and went on to play in the Super Bowl
- 2011 Aaron Rodgers: 68.3%, 4,643 yds, 10.5 ay/a, 45 td, 6 int, 122.5 rating
- 2019 Lamar Jackson: 66.1%, 3,127 yds, 8.9 ay/a, 36 td, 6 int, 113.3 rating, 1,206 rush yds, 6.9 y/a, 7 td
The Jackson season is the iffy one because as great as his passing numbers were (and they WERE great), they're not as good as the other gaudy numbers of these other guys. Or as good as many other seasons by Mahomes, Brady, Brees, Manning, Favre, Warner, etc. But add in the 1,206 rush yards and he accounted for 4,333 yards and 43 touchdowns, which is incredible. But I'd totally respect the opinion that Lamar's 2019 season should be replaced by someone else's. I've just never seen that kind of passing and rushing combined by a QB before.
RB
- 2000 Marshall Faulk: 1,359 rush yds, 5.4 y/a, 18 td, 81 rec, 830 yds, 10.2 ypc, 8 td (2,189 total yards, 26 touchdowns)
- 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson: 1,815 rush yds, 5.2 y/a, 28 td, 56 rec, 508 yds, 9.1 ypc, 3 td (2,323 total yards, 31 touchdowns)
- 2019 Christian McCaffrey: 1,387 rush yds, 4.8 y/a, 15 td, 116 rec, 1,005 yds, 8.7 ypc, 4 td (2,392 total yards, 19 touchdowns)
- 1998 Terrell Davis: 2,008 rush yds, 5.1 y/a, 21 td, 25 rec, 217 yds, 8.7 ypc, 2 td (2,225 total yards, 23 touchdowns)
- 1958 Jim Brown: 1,527 rush yds, 5.9 y/a, 17 td, 16 rec, 138 yds, 8.6 ypc, 1 td (1,665 total yards, 18 touchdowns) - IN JUST A 12 GAME SEASON
Project Brown's numbers out over 16 games and it's: 2,036 rush yards, 23 rush TD, 184 receiving yards, 1 rec TD, 2,220 total yards, 24 touchdowns, and a crazy 5.9 yard per carry average against defenses that were designed to basically stop just him. But there's no denying what Tomlinson did in 2006. I mean....insane. There are so so many other great RB seasons, obviously. But these are my five nominees.
WR
- 2007 Randy Moss: 98 rec, 1,493 yds, 15.2 ypc, 23 touchdowns
- 1995 Jerry Rice: 122 rec, 1,848 yds, 15.1 ypc, 15 touchdowns
- 2019 Michael Thomas: 149 rec, 1,725 yds, 11.6 ypc, 9 touchdowns
- 2002 Marvin Harrison: 143 rec, 1,722 yds, 12.0 ypc, 11 touchdowns
- 2001 Terrell Owens: 93 rec, 1,412 yds, 15.2 ypc, 16 touchdowns
Again, TONS of amazing WR seasons to choose from. These are my five, though an argument could be made for many others. I think any list ought to have 2007 Moss and 1995 Rice on it, however. The other three, much more up for grabs because there's great arguments for so many - 2015 Antonio Brown, 2015 Julio Jones, for two examples right off the top of my head. I put Thomas on there because 149 receptions, I don't care how you slice it, is just unfathomable.
TE
- 2011 Rob Gronkowski: 90 rec, 1,327 yds, 14.7 ypc, 17 touchdowns
- 2020 Travis Kelce: 105 rec, 1,416 yds, 13.5 ypc, 11 touchdowns
- 2013 Jimmy Graham: 86 rec, 1,215 yds, 14.1 ypc, 16 touchdowns
- 1983 Todd Christensen: 92 rec, 1,247 yds, 13.6 ypc, 12 touchdowns
- 1961 Mike Ditka: 56 rec, 1,076 yds, 19.2 ypc, 12 touchdowns
Ditka gets in here because of his otherworldly yards-per-catch number, and the fact that his stats were insane at that time of the NFL. It's hard to judge these guys because a huge part of their job is blocking, so from what I can see on the field, Kelce and Graham get lower marks because they're not considered great blockers but more like glorified WRs. Still, their production was incredible.
So these are my nominees. Out of these nominees, my winners are:
QB - 2013 Peyton Manning (soooo tempted to put 2007 Brady in here)
RB - 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson
WR - 2007 Randy Moss
TE - 2011 Rob Gronkowski
Who you got?
QB
- 2013 Peyton Manning: 68.3%, 5,477 yds, 9.3 ay/a, 55 td, 10 int, 115.1 rating - also went 13-3 and went on to play in the Super Bowl
- 1984 Dan Marino: 64.2%, 5,084 yds, 9.4 ay/a, 48 td, 17 int, 108.9 rating - at a time when such passing stats were UNHEARD of
- 2007 Tom Brady: 68.9%, 4,806 yds, 9.4 ay/a, 50 td, 8 int, 117.2 rating - also went 16-0 and went on to play in the Super Bowl
- 2011 Aaron Rodgers: 68.3%, 4,643 yds, 10.5 ay/a, 45 td, 6 int, 122.5 rating
- 2019 Lamar Jackson: 66.1%, 3,127 yds, 8.9 ay/a, 36 td, 6 int, 113.3 rating, 1,206 rush yds, 6.9 y/a, 7 td
The Jackson season is the iffy one because as great as his passing numbers were (and they WERE great), they're not as good as the other gaudy numbers of these other guys. Or as good as many other seasons by Mahomes, Brady, Brees, Manning, Favre, Warner, etc. But add in the 1,206 rush yards and he accounted for 4,333 yards and 43 touchdowns, which is incredible. But I'd totally respect the opinion that Lamar's 2019 season should be replaced by someone else's. I've just never seen that kind of passing and rushing combined by a QB before.
RB
- 2000 Marshall Faulk: 1,359 rush yds, 5.4 y/a, 18 td, 81 rec, 830 yds, 10.2 ypc, 8 td (2,189 total yards, 26 touchdowns)
- 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson: 1,815 rush yds, 5.2 y/a, 28 td, 56 rec, 508 yds, 9.1 ypc, 3 td (2,323 total yards, 31 touchdowns)
- 2019 Christian McCaffrey: 1,387 rush yds, 4.8 y/a, 15 td, 116 rec, 1,005 yds, 8.7 ypc, 4 td (2,392 total yards, 19 touchdowns)
- 1998 Terrell Davis: 2,008 rush yds, 5.1 y/a, 21 td, 25 rec, 217 yds, 8.7 ypc, 2 td (2,225 total yards, 23 touchdowns)
- 1958 Jim Brown: 1,527 rush yds, 5.9 y/a, 17 td, 16 rec, 138 yds, 8.6 ypc, 1 td (1,665 total yards, 18 touchdowns) - IN JUST A 12 GAME SEASON
Project Brown's numbers out over 16 games and it's: 2,036 rush yards, 23 rush TD, 184 receiving yards, 1 rec TD, 2,220 total yards, 24 touchdowns, and a crazy 5.9 yard per carry average against defenses that were designed to basically stop just him. But there's no denying what Tomlinson did in 2006. I mean....insane. There are so so many other great RB seasons, obviously. But these are my five nominees.
WR
- 2007 Randy Moss: 98 rec, 1,493 yds, 15.2 ypc, 23 touchdowns
- 1995 Jerry Rice: 122 rec, 1,848 yds, 15.1 ypc, 15 touchdowns
- 2019 Michael Thomas: 149 rec, 1,725 yds, 11.6 ypc, 9 touchdowns
- 2002 Marvin Harrison: 143 rec, 1,722 yds, 12.0 ypc, 11 touchdowns
- 2001 Terrell Owens: 93 rec, 1,412 yds, 15.2 ypc, 16 touchdowns
Again, TONS of amazing WR seasons to choose from. These are my five, though an argument could be made for many others. I think any list ought to have 2007 Moss and 1995 Rice on it, however. The other three, much more up for grabs because there's great arguments for so many - 2015 Antonio Brown, 2015 Julio Jones, for two examples right off the top of my head. I put Thomas on there because 149 receptions, I don't care how you slice it, is just unfathomable.
TE
- 2011 Rob Gronkowski: 90 rec, 1,327 yds, 14.7 ypc, 17 touchdowns
- 2020 Travis Kelce: 105 rec, 1,416 yds, 13.5 ypc, 11 touchdowns
- 2013 Jimmy Graham: 86 rec, 1,215 yds, 14.1 ypc, 16 touchdowns
- 1983 Todd Christensen: 92 rec, 1,247 yds, 13.6 ypc, 12 touchdowns
- 1961 Mike Ditka: 56 rec, 1,076 yds, 19.2 ypc, 12 touchdowns
Ditka gets in here because of his otherworldly yards-per-catch number, and the fact that his stats were insane at that time of the NFL. It's hard to judge these guys because a huge part of their job is blocking, so from what I can see on the field, Kelce and Graham get lower marks because they're not considered great blockers but more like glorified WRs. Still, their production was incredible.
So these are my nominees. Out of these nominees, my winners are:
QB - 2013 Peyton Manning (soooo tempted to put 2007 Brady in here)
RB - 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson
WR - 2007 Randy Moss
TE - 2011 Rob Gronkowski
Who you got?